<p>I thought that this would be a good time for those of us who are older and wiser to remind both parents and prospies what are the important facts to consider before pushing that irretrevable "send" button.
My advice:
1) Love the school, even if your foot falls off and you never get to play
2) Ditto the Coach leaves and you get a new one
3) Make sure your application has had a "walk thru" at admissions, and the results "look good" with no waffling. If the coach tells you everyone in admissions is "too busy" or "away", that's a bad sign.
4) In the NESCACs, find out if your DD or DS has a "slot" or "tip". If you can't find out, that's a bad sign.</p>
<p>I'm sure others will have more useful caveats and am eager to hear them. Good luck! And may the odds be ever in your favor!</p>
<p>I agree 150% with all of this. I haven’t checked in for a while but was looking up something for a friend and am glad to see all the same good advice. I believe last year there were at least a few snafus where a player committed too early without all the right signs, and had the last minute shock of not getting in. OldBatesiedoc is the word to follow.</p>
<p>Not sure what would be worse - not getting in or getting in and finding out the coach waffled on you.</p>
<p>That’s why we are looking at schools with a club that plays intercollegiately in addition to the varsity team.</p>
<p>(although, we saw one college that has a club that plays in adult soccer leagues against 2nd division pro clubs instead of colleges - very competitive and scouting potential!)</p>
<p>“4) In the NESCACs, find out if your DD or DS has a “slot” or “tip”. If you can’t find out, that’s a bad sign.”</p>
<p>Could someone break down the difference between a “slot” and a “tip” - or are they two words for the same thing? Do they mean the same thing at all NESCAC schools? </p>
<p>The Nescac schools have all agreed how many athletes each school’s team can “protect” thru admissions. These are called “slots” For example, the men’s and woman’s swim team might have 4-6 “slots”. Those “prospies”, if they pass the “pre-read” or “walk-thru” and have nothing objectionable turn up will be accepted. The students have to meet a certain minimum standard, which is quite high compared to non-selective schools, but if they have a “slot” and apply ED, they will be accepted. Minimum for the more selective NESCACs would be 700s or very close on the SATs plus As and Bs in most HS classes.</p>
<p>In the Ivies, it’s called a “likely Letter”, but in the Ivies, you get the letter before you have to apply. In the NESCAC, you only have the word of the coach, and I regret to inform you, some coaches are not entirely honest.</p>
<p>A “tip” means the “prospie” goes thru the usual admissions process. The coach calls admissions and says “I’d really like to see Suzie Swimmer on our team”. Admissions will add that to the list of desirable attributes that Suzie has, but she goes into the regular ED pool, and has to be compared to all the other ED applicants with their other desirable attributes.</p>
<p>Some sports have more pull, and some institutions value athletic achievement more highly. For example, I am told that at Carnegie Mellon, it really doesn’t matter what the swim coach says to the admissions office.</p>
<p>You always have to apply ED to get a “slot”. The coach only has a few, and s/he isn’t going to waste them on athletes who might not attend.</p>
<p>“In the Ivies, it’s called a “likely Letter”, but in the Ivies, you get the letter before you have to apply”. I understood that you had to have a completed application in before you would receive a likely letter?</p>
<p>Personally, I would not get too caught up on the “slot” and “tip” language. My son was pretty heavily recruited by four NESCAC schools this year, and none of the four used that specific language. Each kind of said the same thing, that there were specific numbers of recruits they could “protect” for admission but they all used different language. Most talked about admissions in “above the line” or “below the line” terms (the line being the median admitted status for the class). At the end of the day, ask the coach direct questions, and listen for specific answers. There is also a good series of articles put out by Bowdoin that explains athletic recruiting in the NESCAC from their perspective. If I remember correctly, those articles talk about A, B and C band recruits, similar to the Ivy’s band system. </p>
<p>I disagree. I would certainly get very focused on the specific language the coach is using if you are serious about your NESCAC school. That’s all you have to go on. For example, “support” is not equal to “slot”. The words matter. Get caught up in them. The coach may not volunteer a slot if you don’t ask for one or don’t need one. But even if you don’t need one, you may still be able to get one as a highly sought after recruit. As with pretty much everything in life, if you want it all, you have to ask. Rarely will it be handed to you.</p>
<p>The point I was trying to make is that there appears to be no uniformity in the language used by NESCAC coaches, Which is one of the things that differentiates the NESCAC process from the Ivy process, where everyone talks in terms of band slots, pre reads and likely letters. None of the four NESCAC schools my son looked at ever used the term slot or tip. They all said they could get him through admissions. Each used different language to indicate their success with admissions (95% success rate, or only x number of recruits not through in y years, etc.) What is important, in my opinion, is to find out whether the coach will put a particular recruit on the list he is sending to admissions, and his level of success in getting recruits with similar stats through admissions.</p>
<p>@Ohiodad51 “The point I was trying to make is that there appears to be no uniformity in the language used by NESCAC coaches,”</p>
<p>Exactly. When I spoke with the MIddlebury lax coach, he said, “ask a lot of direct questions to determine your support level, but each school and coach will have their own language as far as that goes”</p>
<p>Important take home fact: know what kind of support your child has, to avoid those unpleasant and heart-breaking surprises. 80% of recruited athletes who apply ED are not admitted; I believe that is due to insufficient question-asking and naivete on the part of the recruit. There are definitely 2 categories: the “hard” support, and the “wish list”.</p>
<p>80% are not admitted? Wow. That is crazy. Of course, as you intimated, that all depends on what the definition of “recruited” is. The take away I think is ask clear and specific questions until you get clear and specific answers. </p>
<p>Good luck! My S sent his the day before the deadline in 2009…He had 4 great years on the Midd Swim Team. It was difficult and stressful, but such a relief to get that early acceptance letter in December!</p>
<p>Looking for input before ED is sent in for my D3 player. Player loves school and would attend if admitted even without the sport. Met with couch, attended overnight, but coach met with player without parent. At other D3 schools, parents were present. Coach told player that he would need support but the coach had support to give, and would give it. Coach said had two players in the same position and wanted player to retest with SAT and ACT but would give player support over other one because player had indicated that he wanted to apply ED early on. No words like "slot’ used, although other times we have heard that word used with respect to the player at other D3 schools. I see signs of coach waffling but my son does not. </p>